


Hair

by Dreaming_Writer



Series: All my LU works [3]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cursed, Gen, Hair, Hair Four, Identity Issues, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), That Hair Monster AU, Wind is Four's descendant, no beta - we die like men, no beta we die like men, time paradox
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:06:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24168571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreaming_Writer/pseuds/Dreaming_Writer
Summary: Buhoks started learning about themselves and their world at early age. They learned how to take over a Hylians body and use it to make their own.And yet when Link gets his first body, something goes wrong.(For now two One-Shots, might add more, later.)
Series: All my LU works [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1653898
Comments: 10
Kudos: 81





	1. Hair

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Runs in the Family](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24147682) by [Kirii_Bunie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirii_Bunie/pseuds/Kirii_Bunie). 
  * Inspired by [Merged](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24267388) by [Kirii_Bunie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirii_Bunie/pseuds/Kirii_Bunie). 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Buhoks started learning about themselves and their world at early age. They learned how to take over a Hylians body and use it to make their own.  
> And yet when Link gets his first body, something goes wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea what this is, but it somehow happened because I cannot stop thinking about bodily functions of hair people after reading the discussion on discord and this fic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24147682.  
> (Thank you, anatomy teacher and your teachings about bodily functions, so I cannot even stop speculating about an AU that's not supposed to make sense until it makes sense.)

Buhoks started learning about themselves and their world at early age. They learned how to take over a Hylians body and use it to make their own.

Hylians, those are the bipedal creatures with the funny ears. They are instinct driven and cruel, their grandfather told them. They hunted Buhoks for sports and so the until then peacefully living Buhoks had turned and hunted them. Instead of taking over simple animals to live in peace, they had started taking over the Hylians themselves, soon proving to be the superior and more intelligent species. Their now even more practical bodies soon only supporting their dominance, so they soon only used the Hylian’s bodies. But there were still some free Hylians out there, rebelling and killing everyone in sight.

NoName did not understand why, seeing as Buhoks now lived their lives peacefully in the places where the Hylians had lived before, but they didn’t have a body yet to read or see for themselves, they could only take the things told by their grandfather or their teachers into consideration. But seeing as the grandfather had promised them their first body soon, they’d have a chance then.

Until then they let the others tell them stories and they learned in primary school how to make themself a body.

His best friend, now wearing the name Zelda, taken by the tradition of naming themselves after their first body and assuming their biological gender, described having a body as suddenly being able to listen to the whole world and not just to other Buhoks through physical contact.

“I can see and hear and smell and taste and it’s truly stunning!” she’d say, her hair vibrating around her with excitement. And NoName couldn’t help but think about how much they wished to experience the same. “You will, soon” Zelda would then soothe them. And NoName would simply lay there and pray for her words to be true.

And finally came the day when their grandfather finally picked them up and connected to them to tell them: “I found the perfect first body for you, hairy. He’s young and the grandson of the next body I’m going to inhabit seeing as my old one is slowly decaying. We just caught them fresh, they were part of the rebellion.”

NoName felt an unknown giddiness rise within them. A body! Finally!

“Wait here” their grandfather told them. And then he carefully put them down and went away, probably to conquer his new body. After a while he was back and carefully picked his charge now with callused but not decayed fingers up. “This is great” he told his grandchild. “And soon you’ll know what it is like. Just remember your teachings and nothing can go wrong.”

And they placed them on a hard surface, which suddenly started to grow wet and warm and NoName was not sure if they liked it. Then they were picked up again and placed within an even warmer and wetter environment. And instinctually they knew they’d have to reach out with their hairs so they may start their settling.

“There you go” their grandfather said. “Call when you’re done.”

NoName send their agreement and then focused on doing as told. Seeing as the body taking was done by taking the Hylian’s hearts out and replacing it with a Buhok, they had to be fast to connect to the body’s mind as to learn what their name and gender would be.

NoName did as instructed and suddenly found themselves within a mindscape. In front of them, there was a bipedal creature that looked just like described to them by their grandfather.

“What’s your name?” they send out, just like instructed. The body’s mental image lowered his mouth’s edges, before moving towards the young Buhok.

“My name is Link” he stated proudly. “And you monsters might have killed my grandfather but my dad’s gonna find you and defeat you. And I won’t let you make a mere puppet out of me!”

The boy started to flicker, which was a clear sign that he’d soon be gone, and the now newly named Link took that moment to enjoy his new name and gender.

Until suddenly a strong mental pressure pressed upon him, fought him and even as it weakened, it managed to break a chunk off and slip inside. _This was not supposed to happen_ , Link realized.

And then suddenly he was assaulted by a sheer endless line of impressions.

_Seeing blue eyes, learning to walk, learning to talk, holding a sword, his father praising him. His grandfather hugging him, listening to night stories about scary parasites that’d kill you to take your body, watching his father hunting those monsters down and eradicating them. One by one._

_Fleeing when their home got overrun, living with the rebels, fleeing when their base had been infiltrated. Wondering why, why, why._

_Getting captured, watching first his grandfather’s heart being taken out and then him being overtaken. The pain and fear and hurt and anger._

_Wishing his father was there to save him and hold him close and warm like he had always done._

_Getting taken out of the cell, strapped to the wooden table which was dark with blood stains. Seeing how the dead eyes of his grandfather fixated upon him when the monster inside placed another of these hairy, meatsack-like creatures next to him. Watching the knife descend upon himself and…_

_…pain…_

_Being in a strange place with the monster right in front of him and the beast talking to him friendly like it was innocent and not the reason Link was dying. Getting angry and attacking the monster while slowly but surely weakening and…_

_…colliding minds and finally bleeding lines and…_

Link awoke and realized his chest was moving up and down without his consent. He immediately stopped the movement and a moment later the normal circulation through his hairs began once more. He sat up, carefully and opened his eyes, taking in the world he was in for the first time with his own senses and just through descriptions and memories. It was mind-blowing.

But then he realized something else: He hadn’t finished all the steps that he had been told to do when taking over a body – and yet here he was, having perfect control over it already. He shrugged - and how giddy he felt because of that simple movement – and mused that it probably didn’t matter. He probably had subconsciously followed the steps while the main front of his mind was busy doing…whatever that was.

No one had said he’d have to go through the complete live of his body! They had said that one would see one or two memories at most, so to know how to control the body and know about the most basic things.

Dirty liars, all of them. And did Hylians really look at them and only see monsters? That was all wrong! Why were they so intelligent or was it just this one boy whose body he had taken?

His hair moved around his head, showing his uncertainty and then he saw its beautiful golden color and nearly cried out in delight. It was absolutely stunning. Deciding that it wouldn’t do to just sit around all day, he stood up and crossed the room with a few steps, his nearly acquired memories guiding him through it.

He opened the door and saw his _dead_ alive grandfather sitting there, his dead eyes moving onto him before his face lightened up with delight: “You did it, good job! So what is your name?”

This paused him and he took an unnecessary breath to steady himself. “Link” he answered and somehow that was the only thing he was sure of at the moment.

The old man smiled and guided his grandson proudly outside where the rest of the family and friends waited. All of them had bodies, their dead eyes were filled with joy and they had come to celebrate Link getting his first.

A young redhead approached Link and he realized by her Aura that it was Zelda. Their hairs connected and she grinned before stating: “Wow, your body looks great! I love your eyes!” “Yeah? I like the body too, though I haven’t had the chance to see myself yet so I can’t judge myself. And call me Link now.”

“That’s a good name, Link” she said happily and guided him to the others who had come to congratulate him. They all had bodies, some already worn with use and starting to decay, their dead eyes upon him, but their faces filled with pride and joy. Link took all their gratulations and when he started to feel overwhelmed, Zelda led him away to a small body of water.

“Your body is really neat” she said. “But look for yourself.”

And Link leaned down and looked. He knew he’d have his own hair color which he’d always had, even though it differed slightly to the one the original Link had had. Also he knew that his hair was a bit shorter than he would have liked because he had to have it short for the taking. It’d be the perfect length soon again, he tried to tell himself. He liked the youthful face that was reflected back at him, about which he’d already known thanks to the original Link’s memories.

But then he caught his eyes and realized why Zelda probably thought they were pretty. Because they still looked as if he were alive.

But what did that mean now?

He had been pretty sure that he was the Buhok but if the Hylian was also still alive what did that mean for him? Who was he? What was he? Why did he get all those memories? Who was he even now?

Was he a monster or a person? Was he himself or someone else? What was he anyway? Who was he?

“Link, are you okay?” Zelda asked, worried from his side. Link suppressed all his troubling thoughts and forced his hair to calm while he smiled at his friend. Because whoever he was, she was still his friend.

“I’m fine” he lied, and she must have sensed it, but didn’t commend on it. “If you say so, Link” she muttered and the two of them walked to his home, where his grandfather waited for him.

He was Link. He had a loving grandfather and a best friend. And while that was all he knew for sure right now, it would be enough. 

Link was a Buhok. A being made of hairs and a little bit of flesh that used a dead host’s body. And yet while the others had dead eyes and their bodies started to decay with time, his didn’t. And when people asked him how he hadn’t changed bodies yet and what he had done to keep his in such a good condition, he’d smile and just shake his head. It was strange and scary because it made him unsure of what he actually was, but he made a brave face and carried on.

There was festival for the Picori, who were actually called Minish, made by Hylians and seeing as the Buhoks currently inhabited Hylian bodies, they decided to celebrate it, too. It was to appear to travelers as normal and friendly and because when Buhoks were still living in forests inhibitating animals instead of Hylians the Minish had been their helpers, too, even though they were too small to inhabitate.

And so they celebrated and acted Hylian all they wanted and suddenly there was this strange violet haired mage and then everything was chaos.

And suddenly there was a burning inside of Link and he stepped forward and the next thing he knew he was a hero.

And the mage who had endangered them was sealed away in a magic sword Link had to help reforge himself.

It was strange and scary and while Buhoks were socially oriented beings, they were not ones to put their lives for anyone outside their families on the line. And yet Link somehow did and he was not even sure why. But with every monster he slayed and every step he took toward saving the kingdom left his eyes seem more alight with life, even though he knew logically that the one whom the body had belonged originally had long since died.

But at least he finally had an excuse as to why his body didn’t decay. Magic swords sure were handy.

And while that satisfied the curiosity of the other Buhoks, it didn’t answer his own. And so Link started travelling, searching for the answer that was his being.

And then he ran into the rebels one day. While his alive eyes fooled them, when their commander came back and saw him, he recognized him instantly, because he had been original Link’s father.

He saw how young he was and grabbed a dagger and slit him and when instead of bleeding, the wound knit itself together, the man slapped the body that was once his son’s.

“Monster!” he screamed. And it hurt Link more to hear the man say it than if anyone else had said it and he didn’t understand why. Maybe because he had acquired original Link’s memories upon claiming his body? “How dare you try to fool us wearing my beloved sons face!”

And they carried him into a magical circle, that burns away hair and thus means the sure death of any Buhok. And they left him there, screaming and crying in pain and fear and left. And then Link passed out when it was too much, sure he’d never wake up again.

…

And yet he somehow did. He wasn’t sure when he woke up or how much time had passed but he was suddenly conscious again. Surrounded by the rotten and hairless corpses of the brethren that had been claimed by the cruel magic of the circle he laid there and watched in horrid fascination as his chest rose and fell with the steady breathing that alive hylians did. Everything ached and yet here he was, alive.

Buhoks were no monsters, but he definitely was one, because somehow he was neither Buhok nor Hylian, neither dead nor alive, neither parasite nor host. He was a Hybrid and that was something never seen before.

He wanted to stop his chest from moving, for it caused indescribable pain as stale blood suddenly moved again to get oxygen everywhere in the ways it shouldn’t have been able to, because his hairs were supposed to eradicate everything Hylian bodies needed to survive and not let it exist in symbiosis, instead strengthening it through magic, letting it exist in peace until the time came in which it was needed. The time, which had come now.

He breathed and his buhok heart-like body beat, mimicking the function of a Hylian’s heart. And it was scary not to have any hairs anywhere, to be just a thing made from flesh. It was not supposed to be something one could survive and yet Link had.

And so he finally stood up, a hybrid, a freak of nature and walked away from the place where he had supposed to have died. He stayed away from everything and everyone until finally his hair started to regenerate thanks to magic and soon started to fill him up again and when finally his chest stopped moving out of necessary, he nearly cried with joy.

And then, when soft hair finally covered his head again, he hunted down those who tried to kill him. He took great pleasure in the paling face of the man who had almost killed him and though he felt a little sick, he dragged him by his hair with his hair with him and presented the man to his grandfather, whose rotting form now finally could be renewed.

He never told anyone about his strange status but didn’t need to. He was a Buhok after all in their eyes, nothing else. And Buhoks were not monsters and while he might be secretly one, that was okay.

So Link lived in his own weird limbo and he saved his home another two times when the windmage broke free and threatened it again and again. And at the end of it he had his hair now being in disagreement with itself and constantly tangling up and in general being a nuisance to deal with with four different opinions on what to do and think, but that was okay, because he was Link and that was his life.

And when he met eight heroes that claimed him to be one, too, and found his own descendant beneath them, he realized that maybe being the weird hybrid he was was not at all bad, for it gifted him this wonderful boy with temperamental hair that he’d defend until his last hair, and then after until his last blood drop.

He was weird, but that was good and with these other heroes that might have better bodies than he had, he learned to accept himself the way he was and not question himself all the time. If he was a Buhok or a Hylian or simply something in-between, they loved and accepted him for himself and so finally he could, too.

He was Link and a was a hero and everything else didn’t really matter.


	2. Paradox's son

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four had his own body and a descendant. That's how the timeline was written.  
> Until it wasn't.  
> (AKA: I thought too much again and wondered what happened with Wind in the Merged AU.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Companion piece to another one of Kirii's works: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24267388  
> Have written this some time ago and had not posted this here yet, so well, guess I hope you enjoy?  
> Tip: Read the fic first, otherwise you might not understand everything happening here.

If asked Wind wouldn’t be able to pinpoint the exact moment when he knew the timeline had been irrevocably altered. But if he was asked to put into words the feelings he had when the timeline was rewritten forever, he’d be able to write a trilogy of books each about 1500 pages with enough words to spare for another few dozens of them.

It all had started at a bloody battle, tougher than the others they’d had. Wind had become distracted for a moment by watching in fascination as Four used his hair to take down two infected moblins to see a third nearing him. Only when he had been hit by its club he realized the mistake he had made and then he was already too dizzy to think.

He saw swimming figures and hair, lots and lots of it. Why was there hair all around him?

And then the battle was over, and someone forced a potion down his throat and Wind could think again. But when he realized what he saw, he wished he was back in his absolutely concussed state. There was Four, who had shielded him as he had been downed and had then, unable to dodge lest the hits would hit Wind, taken hit after hit as other monsters had taken advantage of the situation.

And so Four laid there his body no longer supporting him as the golden hair surrounded like a halo, unable to stitch himself together again. Wind saw Hyrule running to the downed hero’s side, and he felt his own hair moving around in distress, reflecting his feelings, because he was too well aware that there would be no healing for Four. He was a Buhok after all.

They would need a new body for their fallen comrade.

Hair tickled in the back of Wind’s throat and he fought the urge to throw the upcoming hairball up down with all his might.

And then Legend spoke up: “Take mine, then,” he offered. “You need a body, you can have mine!”

Dread pooled in Wind’s stomach and his hair by now was almost moving too fast to be seen by eyes. He knew what that offer would mean for Legend and Four knew it, too.

“No…jst…find an’m’l…” the smallest hero brought out. Legend shook his head firmly and Wind felt sick knowing that the veteran definitely already had made up his mind: “Four, don’t be unreasonable. There aren’t any animals nearby, especially not any that we’d be able to take down fast enough. You need to take my body.”

But then a thought entered Wind’s mind and before he could stop himself he had already blurted the words out together with a hairball: “If you don’t want to take Legend’s, you can take mine instead!”

“No!” Twilight said energetically as he kneeled next to Wind by Four’s fallen form. Wind pouted, and while he felt a little traitorous relief he didn’t want to feel as he hacked another hairball up, he couldn’t understand him, even as the others started to offer themselves up.

Was it because he was Four’s descendant and therefore part Buhok? Would Four’s Buhok form even be agreeable with the part of his genes that made up Buhok also? Or was it just because he was the youngest of the heroes?

For the longest time Wind had looked at his ancestry with disgust, deep rooted prejudice destroying every chance he had to look at it in positive light. But now here he was, offering himself up as a sacrifice to the very beings he had loathed for years. Because in the end it didn’t matter what Four was, he was their friends and they couldn’t just let him die. And Wind finally understood that.

But then Wind looked up just as dice of fate fell upon them all. “I’ll take Le…Legend’s” Four brought out, finally making up his mind. “I need…Tell how…Move me to…Hissss…Body…”

Time pulled Wind away from the others just as the other Links prepared the operation. The old man held him calmingly as the young teen hacked up hairball after hairball in distress, his hair trashing around without his consent.

And then it just stopped.

Wind lifted his gaze and saw the last strand of hair leaving Four’s destroyed body, carefully held by Hyrule.

Time distorted around them all and Time grounded Wind by holding him firmly by his shoulders as he swayed, threatened to be swept away by the tide, to fade away as if he had never existed at all.

And then it just stopped.

Wind felt sick as he watched how they transplanted Four into Legend. But even sicker felt he when he looked at his hands and didn’t recognize them. He suddenly was a little taller, his skin a little lighter and hair a little darker. The hairballs at his feet were gone.

Just like Legend probably was.

Time let Wind go and he stumbled on slightly different legs over to where Legend’s body laid, just as it rose and started experimentally to move.

The sailor broke the silence while the world seemed to hold its breath: “F-Four. Is that you in there?”

Dead eyes blinked at him and the others and Wind suppressed his shudder, as the corpse made a few experimental noises before speaking in their now passed friend’s voice: “I’m alright.”

Wind’s knees gave in and he fall upon the body, tears in his eyes. Tears of fear and relief and grief and he knew if the timeline hadn’t been irrevocably altered his hair would have been even more a mess than it already was. He didn’t know everything but for now he knew that this sacrifice was enough to save Four and that was enough.

And then the news came that Legend was still alive somewhere in there somewhere and Wind knew enough for now to know that it was alright.

It was only in the evening, when everything had calmed, that Wind realized the true prize that had been paid that day. As he stared at the shield he had known for so long, he was unable to recognize it.

Time sat down next to him quietly and Wind turned to him eyes wide: “The timeline changed…” The elder nodded before explaining: “The others don’t remember any other way now. You only remember there was something because you were held by me who is immune to the changes of time.”

Wind nodded, dazed.

So Four would never know that once he had been Wind’s ancestor? Wind, who used to stun him based on what he was because he was raised with the hate against Buhoks only to find out that he was part of these beings himself?

Wind wondered how their relationship had developed in this timeline, where there wasn’t the familial bond between them to bridge the gap opened between them.

And then he realized that if he changed that much, what about his Hyrule? His grandmother? Aryll? What did these changes mean for them? Did they even still exist or would Wind have to go home only to find it empty or worse, filled with strangers?

Fear shook him and he knew in the real timeline he’d be spitting hairballs. Time held him until Wind could think again.

“Are you alright?” he asked, worry shining in his single eye.

Wind watched Legend’s body brush the now deep pink hair, he watched the others watching the amalgam between Four and Legend with fond expressions and Wind decided whatever this timeline would have in store for him, he’d be able to brave.

Brave, maybe, but accepting would have a longer way to go.

“I’m fine” Wind said, and Time watched him closely to see if he was lying.

He was.

“It’s alright.”


End file.
